Expanding world-wide energy demands have led the energy industry to an increasing exploration of remote oil and gas reserves. To meet the world's energy needs, the energy industry has explored remote and environmentally sensitive areas ranging from the mountainous jungle terrain in South America to the expansive frozen tundras of Canada, Alaska and Siberia. Although these remote locations hold promising oil and gas reserves, exploration, drilling and production from these remote locations presents significant challenges. As examples, the energy industry faces challenges in securing economic production of energy reserves, in maintaining a safe environment for workers operating drilling rigs, and in protecting the environment of the remote areas from contamination and extensive drill-site development-related damages.
One primary economic concern related to remote land-based reserve development is the expense of transporting and setting up drilling equipment at the remote sites. Conventional drilling equipment for drilling oil and gas wells is heavy and bulky, making transportation of the equipment difficult. Many remote sites lack developed road systems for transporting heavy equipment, increasing the amount of time that the drilling equipment needs for transportation between drilling sites. In some instances, such as in remote jungle locations, it is impractical to build roads to transport equipment, making development of the remote reserves uneconomical with conventional drilling equipment.
Logistic issues associated with transporting drilling equipment not only increases the cost of transportation, but increases the capital cost of an energy exploration and development project. For instance, conventional drilling equipment is an expensive capital investment that remains unused during transportation. Further, the workers that operate the drilling equipment are generally unproductive during transportation times. Thus, extended periods of time used to transport drilling equipment can drastically increase the overhead associated with a given well operation. This translates into thousands of dollars for an energy company that is attempting to develop remote energy reserves.
Another difficulty associated with remote energy reserve development is the potential for environmental damage to the remote drilling site. For instance, conventional land-based drilling equipment tends to use an extensive footprint to drill a well. A relatively large surface area is used to assemble and disassemble the drilling equipment and to operate the drilling rig. The larger the footprint, the greater the potential environmental impact that the drilling site will have on the surrounding environment. Further, in mountainous terrain, large footprint drilling sites are difficult to construct and manage, particularly when large earth moving and clearing machines are used to prepare the drilling site.
In addition to the environmental impact of establishing the drilling site, other environmental impacts result from actual drilling operations. These impacts can vary from the noise generated by the drilling operation to the chemicals, mud and fuel used to support the drilling operation and the byproducts of the drilling operation. For instance, drilling operations require a supply of fuel, chemicals and mud to drill the well. Further, the drilling operation creates byproducts that can contaminate the surface environment. Controlling and storing the materials used by and created by the drilling operation presents considerable logistical difficulties to the drill operator.
Another important consideration to drilling operations is the safety of the personnel performing the operations. Drilling is inherently dangerous, and this danger is increased by transportation of the drilling equipment over significant distances. Safety considerations can shut down drilling operations if, for instance, essential drilling equipment becomes impaired or inoperable, or is just plain missing. When the drilling equipment is transported over extensive distances, essential equipment can easily be forgotten or misplaced. Further, safety is of extreme importance at remote sites which are located large distances from medical assistance.